Emmylou Harris

Item: Red Dirt Girl
Author: Janet Friesen

Red Dirt Girl

(2000)

Reviewed by Janet Friesen

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Label Nonesuch RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2000

alternative country americana folk rock

For all of the 25 years of her career, Emmylou Harris has been known as an interpreter of songs. She's given us wonderful versions of Gram Parson's "Wheels," Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho & Lefty," Nanci Griffith's "Gulf Coast Highway," and countless other songs that she has made her own through the emotive powers of that sweet and beautiful voice. Occasionally, we've been given a glimpse into her inner world through some of her songwriting--songs like "Boulder to Birmingham" and "Prayer In Open D." But her many recording projects have been predominantly filled with the songs of others. That is, until this her latest release "Red Dirt Girl."

Eleven of the twelve songs on this cd were written by Harris and if we've waited 25 years for this, it's been well worth the wait. Drawing from many things that, she says, she "knew she was going to have to write about," she touches on lost loves, marriage, the mother/daughter relationships, love for her father, even the meaning of life. And through it all, she does it with poetry that is almost breathtaking in its beauty. In "Michelangelo" she sings:

Last night I dreamed about you
I dreamed that you were weeping
And your tears poured down like diamonds
For a love beyond all keeping
And you caught them one by one
In a million silk bandanas that I gave you long ago
Michelangelo

The title song tells the sad, but all too common tale of a young woman whose dreams are cut short by the everyday realities of life:

Nobody knows when she started her skid
She was only 27 and she had 5 kids
Coulda' been the whiskey, coulda' been the pills
Coulda' been the dreams she was tryin' to kill
But there won't be a mention in the news of the world
About the life and the death of a red dirt girl
Named Lillian
Who never got any farther across the line than Meridian

Harris is not afraid to tackle the spiritual issues of life either. The project starts out with "The Pearl," a song about life--its ups and downs and our continual quest for meaning. But we are not lost, as she points out:

So there'll be no guiding light for you and me
We are not sailors lost out on the sea
We were always searching for eternity
Hoping for a glimpse of Galilee

As always, Ms. Harris has surrounded herself with a wonderful group of artists to give life to such poetry. Malcolm Burns headed up the production duties helping to achieve a sound that is deep, thick, and reminiscent of Daniel Lanois' production efforts on her last cd, "Wrecking Ball." Ethan James steps in again on electric guitar along with Daryl Johnson on bass and percussion, and Buddy Miller on guitar, pedal steel, and mando guitar. Bruce Springsteen shares backup vocal duties on one tune with Patti Scialfa and Dave Matthews joins in with Harris on the beautiful duet "My Antonia." Both Patty Griffin and Julie Miller show up to sing bgv's on several songs and even Kate McGarrigle joins in to play accordion on "J'ai Fait Tout," a song of lost love. Harris' voice is strong and, as always, so emotive. She can "make" a song just by a turn of phrase such as speaking the very ends of the lines in some of the verses of the wonderful song "Bang The Drum Slowly," a song that she wrote in tribute to her father.

This is music that becomes more dear with each listen, making its way into ones' soul and taking up residence. Emmylou Harris says that she won't give up her "day job"--that of interpreting others' music, but if she's got more songs like these inside of her, we will all be better for her sharing them with us. For now, this disk is a "must have."

5 tocks